A reflection of the grief of a mother whose child died from malnutrition
BY SISTER MONICA PRENDERGAST, MMM [KITOVU HOSPITAL, UGANDA]
Lord, I feel sad tonight.
I lift up to you that poor mother I saw
today.
Comfort her broken heart and
O Lord, comfort all mothers who
mourn
but especially mothers whose children die of hunger.
For, O Lord, I
do not think you meant
your little ones to feel the pangs of hunger.
What
has gone wrong with your fair world?
You never meant so few of your
people
To possess so much
while little children starve.
The grief of that mother haunts me.
She walked many weary miles
under the tropical
sun to bring her child to us.
I remember his little
emaciated body and his sick little eyes.
He did improve with care
and the
worry left her face.
What love she lavished on her little one!
But today he suddenly died.
Malnutrition had lowered his
resistance.
And O Lord, what grief I saw,
I felt silent and
helpless.
She was one of your very poor.
And I saw Calvary re-enacted
On that grassy hillside outside our
hospital.
For, as your broken body was wrapped in linen cloths
before the
eyes of your mother,
So now they took this little body
and tenderly
wrapped it in bark cloth
and expertly and reverently
the father secured
it with bamboo sticks
to the carrier of a bicycle.
A borrowed bicycle and
wasn't your tomb borrowed too?
I clasped the mother's hand in silent
sympathy
and she said "Weebale Nnyo"
"Thank you sister for being kind to
my little son".
With dignity she walked ahead as they began
the long journey
home.
And in my mind I walked with her,
I felt restless and deeply
concerned,
concerned that children must die while so many are
overfed.
Lord, I pray for your world,
this beautiful world whose abundance
was meant
to be shared by all.
Raise up the 'doers of the Word'
Who
will challenge the rich nations to distribute
your bread to the hungry
multitude.
Take away hunger, give us the 'new earth'!
It is easy to read about starving people,
to look at those thin
bodies on TV;
so easy to say "Let us pray for the hungry."
But as St James said so well:
"Can faith without works save you?
No it's dead faith"
We can
so easily be irrelevant in today's society
if we do not enter deeply into
the lives of the oppressed.
The cry of the poor reaches us daily.
Forgive us Lord for the
times we close our ears to that cry.
We do not want to become involved so
that like those
in the parables of old, we quietly pass by on the other
side!
We receive from your hands Lord, the Bread of Life,
may its
reception inspire us to share our bread with the hungry.
Thank you for the
privilege of being here.
Reward with eternal life, the many who support us
and enable us
to help your little ones.
ONE WORLD WEEK IS ON THURSDAY 23RD OCTOBER FULL DETAILS ARE ON PAGES 29 AND 30 (BACK PAGE). LINK GROUP & YOUTH CLUB CAR WASH / IRON-IN / COFFEE MORNING, SATURDAY 18TH OCTOBER, IN AID OF CHILD POVERTY ACTION
submitted by Pam Dinneen
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